Barely give Nobs a hard time.

Barely Athletic 9 Nailsea Old Boys 2

Goal: Steve

Defence: Chris, Tom P, Danny, Rich B

Midfield: Sam, Jim, Rich J, Richie

Attack: Manrouf, Lefils

Subs: Tom 2, Mike, Bob

Yes, that slightly laboured innuendo is in honour of Barely's comprehensive defeat of the always-competitive Nobs this morning. Perhaps a little foresight on Nick's part is to be applauded as he elected to play this game on astroturf, a surface that suits Barely's pass and move game, on the random occasions they get it going.

This morning was one of those days.

Barely shrugged off their traditional opening-ten-minutes lethargy and having dealt with Nob's early threat, set about opening the scoring themselves. Lefils and Mani were the epitomy of pace, positioning, power, and any complimentary adjective beginning with 'p' that you care to mention. They linked well with midfield and even better with each other - after Lefils opened the scoring he set up Mani for the second as Barely looked to trouble the Nobs defence every time they had the ball. Around the half-hour mark Rich B broke into the box and was barged over: penalty. Nobs felt hard done by but your correspondent feels the decision was just: the player ran across Rich without gaining control of the ball. Lefils plonked the penalty into the back of the net and Barely went into the break with a 3-0 lead.

Nobody was slapping themselves on the back however - Nobs are not a side who give up the ghost at any stage, and the team felt the next goal would be crucial. Tom (2) came on in defence, Mike to right-wing and Chris gamely went between the sticks as Barely made minor adjustments.

But it was the home team who scored again first as Lefils completed his hat-trick with a dribble and near-post finish, and then Tom added a fifth with a slightly deflected free-kick. "It would have gone in anyway" Tom confirmed after the game, possibly optimistically. In fact those goals may have been the other way around such was the dizzying speed of the second half, and the glut of goals. Nobs lived up to their reputation as whatever the opposite of quitters is by forcing in a couple of goals themselves - both well finished.

But these came amidst a further four goals for Barely. Jim finished off a fantastic, intricate move that went through the whole of the Barely midfield before he switched feet to make room for himself and slotted home. "Impact player" Mike marked his debut with a simple tap-in as Barely inevitably managed to convert some of the many chances they were creating. Rich Jackson got up to the far post to cushion a looping header over the keeper from Mike's cross. And Jim finished things off with a deft lob to give Barely their biggest win in a while. It might have been a larger score but for some profligacy from the Barely players - Bob in particular will be disappointed to have come on for a run-out at the end only to fall over when through on goal. But he was not alone. However it was a day for celebration in the end as Barely, knocked out of the cup, continue their tentative involvement in the league with a third game unbeaten.

Man of the match was a tricky vote with the team (finishing aside, though it seems picky to say so after nine goals) uniformly excellent. But Lefils' hat-trick was hard to ignore, with Tom P finishing runner-up after an imperious display of centre-halfism.

Next up: Flying Saucers.